The Who Top 10 Songs of All Time, New Songs in 2016-2017

Take a look at the below list of The Who Top 10 Songs and Albums of All Time till 2017 with new and upcoming songs 2017. Previously known as the Detours, The Who is a rock band from England. The band was formed in 1964. Its members were Pete Townshend (singer), John Entwistle (bass guitarist), Keith Moon (drummer) and Rodger Daltry as the lead singer. The band has been so successful recording sales of more than 100 million records globally. They have also earned a reputation as one of the most influential bands of the past century. Below are 10 of the best songs from their massive compilation.

List of Top 10 songs by The Who of all time Till 2017

10. ‘I Can See for Miles.’

Our tenth position goes to this tune from 1966. ‘I Can See for Miles’ was penned by Pete Townshend. The band had high hopes for the song but much to their mortification; it only managed to scale the chart up to the 9th position in the US and the 10th position in England. Also, its exit from the chart was very quick. However, over the years, the song has come to be accepted by more people who have boosted its reputation. The song boasts an aggressive beat and today; it is seen as one of the band’s significant achievements although they have only used it once in the past 15 years.

9. ‘A Quick One While He’s Away.’

This song is also from 1966. It lasts a whole nine minutes mimicking a concert. In this song, the band wanted to go out of the box and move out of their limited scope of short pop songs. It gives a story of a woman engaged in infidelity after her husband went away for more than one year. Her affair is with an Engine Driver named Ivor. Upon the return of the man, the woman confesses and is forgiven. The artistry involved is quite complex, and this aspect ultimately laid the foundation for progressive rock. ‘A Quick One When He’s Away’ became a high spot in their concerts in 1970. The band shelved the song after 1978, but Pete has performed it several times in his solo shows.

8. ‘The Real Me.’

Pete intended for ‘Quadrophenia’ to be unique just like he did with other albums. By this time, the band was about ten years old. Pete Townshend was thinking of creating an album that would celebrate their decade-long history. This album was to be called ‘Long Live Rock.’ Pete’s wishes were the concept of cutting some songs from their various styles of previous works, and then proceed to show their evolution. This idea, however, proved not feasible. He had to shelf the idea. He chose to work on a rock opera inspired by one of their fans named Jimmy. Jimmy was a young man with many problems, but the most noteworthy were his disorder of having four distinct personas. His story is captured in the second track of the album- the song’s name was ‘The Real Me.’ What is most striking in the song is John Entwistle’s bass which becomes the lead instrument in the song.

7. ‘Eminence Front.’

At the beginning of the ‘80s, The Who was doing back to back tours. During this time, Pete Townshend agreed to record two albums by The Who and two solo albums. Unfortunately, the band was struggling with drug addiction which made them take a short break from music in 1982. This break gave Pete time to save the best for his solo album. Out of this, The Who created ‘Eminence Front.’ The song turned out to be a success. ‘Eminence Front’ is all about the paranoia and the fear that a coke addict has to contend with. The song became a staple during their performance after they won over the addiction in 1999.

6. ‘Behind Blue Eyes.’

‘Behind Blue Eyes’ is from the 1971 LP by The Who titled ‘Who’s Next.’ However, Pete never liked the album and he was of the opinion that it was merely a remnant of a previously failed work- the rock opera ‘Lifehouse.’ It, however, seems as if he was the only person who disliked it. ‘Lifehouse’ contained a lot of science fiction rock that looked as if it anticipated the invention of the internet. ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ was released in 1971 and despite the fact that people never quite comprehended what it was all about, the song immediately scaled to the top of charts across the globe. The group has ever since used the song during their live shows for more than 40 years. This is one of the The Who Top 10 Songs of All Time till 2017.

5. ‘Who Are You.’

By 1977, punk rock was taking over the city of London. For this reason, Pete thought the band would be edged out of the industry and was even in the blink of disbanding the group. However, on one fateful evening after Pete had drunk himself foolish, he met Paul Cook and Steve Jones of the Pistols. Pete got into a conversation with them thinking that he was talking to Johnny Rotten. He confessed to them that he felt like dissolving the band. The two exhorted him to think of it again; something which made him feel worse. Townshend went home and it was during that night that he wrote ‘Who Are You.’ The song was a big hit on the radio after a couple of disappointing years.

4. ‘Love Reign O’er Me.’

It was Pete who penned a huge chunk of the album ‘Quadrophenia’ unlike in Tommy. ‘Love Reign O’er Me’ came as the last song from ‘Quadrophenia’ and had been penned some time earlier on when Pete was working on ‘Rock is Dead- Long Live Rock.’ The song was a continuation of Jimmy’s story. In the song, Jimmy is seated on a rock pedestal amidst a sea, and there is a massive storm. Jimmy has a divine manifestation that his entire four personas are just parts of who he is. The song carries one of Daltry’s expression of his vocal prowess.

3. ‘We Won’t Get Fooled Again.’

This song is about the futility of revolutions. Initially released as an 8-munute long song, a shorter version was released later for it to be radio friendly. After shortening it, the song became a huge success. It scaled the charts and peaked at position 15. The band has since performed it numerous times in their performances. The most remarkable of the performances in which it was performed was a concert in New York in 2001. This concert was very special since it was Entwistle’s last time to perform with the band in America. The song has always received a warm embrace throughout the political spectrum. It became a greatly sought-after song with Michael Moore even wanting to use it at the end of his film titled ‘Fahrenheight 9/11.’ In the year 2006, it was named the greatest conservative song of all time by The National Review.

2. ‘My Generation.’

Our second song was written by Bob Dylan. It was released in 1968 to a very encouraging reception. It was initially a slow song, but the band sped it up and turned it into their signature tune. The song also laid some foundation for the crude sounds of punk rock. The song’s musicality makes it a great song.

1. ‘Baba O’Riley.’

This song is the ultimate Who goodness packed in a whole five minutes. ‘Baba O’Riley’ is made unique by its looping synths. It is an anthem that dwells much on the disillusionment in teenagers. Pete Townshend said that the song was inspired by hundreds of thousands of teenagers he came across. These teenagers, according to him, had been joyfully wasted out of their minds something he termed in the song as ‘teenage wasteland.’

The Who New Songs 2016-2017

The Who have had no song released in 2016-2017. They have, however, kept entertaining their fans by touring the world.

The Who will go down memory lane as one of the greatest bands in the history of rock music. Some of their fans have been asking and pleading with them on social sites requesting new music releases. It is our hope that they will listen and act.